Maresca can make Sancho more unplayable by starting £80k-p/w Chelsea star

Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea side have gotten into their stride recently, and things have been starting to click for the Blues. They started the season in the worst possible way, a defeat at the hands of Manchester City, but since then have won three of their last four Premier League games, having also drawn with Crystal Palace.

The West London outfit have had some standout performers along the way. Nicolas Jackson has started the season in fine form, with four goals and two assists in five top-flight games. Cole Palmer has also been superb so far this term, having scored twice and grabbed four assists in five appearances.

One of their summer signings has also started life at Stamford Bridge excellently. That player is Jadon Sancho.

Sancho’s start to his Chelsea career

The former Manchester United winger had plenty of eyes on him when he moved from the Red Devils to the Blues of West London. It is fair to say his time at Old Trafford did not live up to expectations; the former Borussia Dortmund man left with 12 goals and six assists in 83 games for the club.

However, all of that seems to be in the past now, and Sancho is thriving, in an optimal environment with a coach who ensures the winger feels “love”, as the Italian put it, following the winger’s debut against Bournemouth.

So far, the England international has made just two appearances for the Blues, and he already has two assists to his name. He registered a match-winning assist on debut against the Cherries for Christopher Nkunku and created Jackson’s first goal against West Ham last weekend.

The 24-year-old has been superb in ideal conditions, both on and off the pitch. Unlike his time at United, Sancho has had his skillset maximised by the coach, creating lots of overlapping and underlapping runs and quick combination play, as his assist at the Vitality Stadium showed.

Maresca may have another Blues player who could further enhance Sancho’s output and could well decide to unleash him against Brighton this afternoon, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

How Dewsbury-Hall can help maximise Sancho

English midfielder Dewsbury-Hall signed for Chelsea from 2023/24 Championship winners Leicester City. As managers often do, he was the player whom Maresca chose to take with him from the Foxes, for a fee of just £30m, and is now earning £80k-per-week, according to Capology.

That certainly seemed like a superb deal on the face of things, given the Leicester academy graduate was one of the Championship’s best players last term. He scored 12 goals and grabbed 14 assists in 44 games in England’s second tier.

The former Luton Town loanee ranked highly in several creative metrics for the Foxes last term, and his underlying statistics further suggested that he was one of the better players in the Championship, as per FBref.

Indeed, he could form a superb partnership with Sancho, given the fact Maresca used him as a mezzala-type midfielder last term for the Foxes, operating in the half-space on the left-hand side, similar areas to where Sancho players his best football. The fluidity in their rotations and sharp combination play could elevate Chelsea even more, after a good start to the season.

With the Leicester academy graduate making those underlapping runs to help facilitate Sancho, we could see a superb partnership form. Given the Chelsea number 22’s superb creative final third numbers, both he and the winger could profit and create far more chances for the Blues.

So far, Dewsbury-Hall is yet to show his best form in a Chelsea shirt. He has played just three times in the Premier League, and is yet to start a game.

However, he is a player Maresca certainly trusts, and if he is unleashed against Brighton – perhaps ahead of Enzo Fernandez – could begin the start of a special partnership between himself and Sancho.